The experience we’re about to tell you promises the best of Buenos Aires history and gastronomy in only 4 hours, so you better keep up!
There’s something about the porteños and their local markets, food, wine and coffee. Many corners in Buenos Aires meet these three relevant elements but one place puts them all together within a special environment: San Telmo, a historic and gastronomic neighborhood by excellence. A spot where immigration, architecture and antiques tell a story and merge with contemporary design and colorful street artists and artisans.
The tour begins at the traditional San Telmo Market, which opened in 1897 to provide the new European immigrants with the necessary provisions. The building still preserves its original inner structure, made by metal beams, arches and columns and glass and sheet ceilings. In the year 200 the market was declared Historic National Monument by the city’s government.
Nowadays, visiting the San Telmo Market is an adventure into Buenos Aires’ past; an eclectic experience where unalike options and shops are the main attraction: antiques, old toys, exotic fruits and spices, fresh vegetables and meat, patagonian products…one picture isn’t enough to cover the many shops and secrets inside this market!
After learning about the history of this unique place and walking around a bit, we stop at Coffee Town. It is known that porteños love to spend their time in coffee shops reading the newspaper, working with their laptops, catching up with friends or just relaxing with a hot cup of coffee in their hands. That is why -after years learning everything there was to know and becoming coffee experts- the Coffee Town team decided to settle at this market, being the first specialty coffee shop in Argentina. Their philosophy: to offer the best coffee in the world at the right price and to propose a journey along the sensorial route with every taste.
At this cute little shop we have a coffee tasting along with a talk about the coffee transformation process -from the green bean to the moment where it gains its aromatic and flavor characteristics- and the different forms of preparation.
Later, we leave the market and walk along the streets of San Telmo towards Sagardi, a Basque restaurant. Here, a professional sommelier will take us through a tasting of a selected variety of excellent and unique boutique wines paired with pintxos (bite-size appetizers served in the bars and taverns of the Basque Country).
With a wine reminiscent taste in our palates, we continue our way to the final stop of the tour: the Pulpería Quilapán. In the old days of the Río de La Plata region, the pulperías were a place that combined a grocery store, a bar and a spot where gauchos, natives, peasants, creole and black people reunited to drink, eat and have fun. Today, Argentine people still take our time to gather with friends and family around the famous mate, a picada, the traditional asado or with a glass of wine.
Pulpería Quilapán is a restaurant, bar, social club and grocery store that uses and sells national, natural and organic products, all of them specially selected. With a country flair, in an ancient refurbished house with rustic environment, fresh patios, an organic vegetable garden, an urban small farm and flower garden, the countryside is reflected recreating a nice and relaxed ambience for people to get together.
We have a guided tour of this historic house and -to end the soiree- the Pulpería delights us with an exquisite traditional creole barbecue with drinks and dessert, while enjoying a live folklore show. Definitely a “back to the countryside roots” experience!
For more information about this tour, please contact your Kallpa Tour executive.
